Aunt Sam is an original WHOOPS! commission illustrated by Armando Huerta in 2007. I commissioned this drawing as the concept artwork for a pop art painting I intended to create that year. Although the painting was never completed, the original drawing survives as an unpublished chapter in the WHOOPS! series. Who knows ... perhaps one day Aunt Sam will finally make the leap from pencil to canvas, exactly as originally intended.
During our collaboration, the creative process usually began with an idea or character concept that I developed. Armando would then illustrate the character, and I would select certain drawings to transform into large pop art paintings. Once a painting sold, Armando received a commission from the sale. It was a workflow that allowed us to combine two very different artistic styles into a single project.
Aunt Sam was one of those planned collaborations that never progressed beyond the original drawing. Because of that, it offers a rare glimpse into the creative process and documents a WHOOPS! character that remained unpublished as a finished painting.
Today, the drawing forms part of the official WHOOPS! archive and preserves a piece of the history behind one of the many ideas we developed together.
